As fans look ahead to upcoming movies, Clint Eastwood’s new film looks like a project that was made especially for him. It taps right into the Clint Eastwood persona — a tough guy with a chip on his shoulder who will embark on a path of self-discovery through a dangerous journey. Fans are especially excited to see Eastwood — whose fame is rooted in Westerns — return to the genre that helped make him a household name. While it may seem like Cry Macho was carefully crafted for Eastwood’s late-in-life hurrah, the movie has actually been in the works for three decades, and it once had a totally different well-known actor slated to star.
Clint Eastwood passed on ‘Cry Macho’ back in 1988
After bouncing around through a series of odd jobs, a young Clint Eastwood — who grew up in the Great Depression — found his foray into acting in small parts in the mid 1950s. By the 1960s, he had firmly established himself as a Western powerhouse with flicks like A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), Hang ‘Em High (1968), Paint Your Wagon (1969), and — of course — Dirty Harry (1971).
After that, Eastwood’s career took a turn and mostly centered on action films and action-comedy offerings, but he was still more or less synonymous with classic Westerns by the time the idea for Cry Macho was bouncing around in 1988.
The story follows a has-been rodeo star as he attempts to get a teenage boy out of Mexico and away from a precarious family situation. The work is based off a novel of the same name that was published in 1975, and Eastwood was interested in the film adaptation. Ultimately, he chose to pass so he could perform in The Dead Pool (1988).
Arnold Schwarzenegger was tapped for ‘Cry Macho’
After Eastwood turned down the project, the creators kept looking for a path to make the film work. According to IMDb, production even got underway in Mexico in 1991 with Roy Scheider playing the lead. Ultimately, it didn’t come to fruition and was scrapped.
As The New York Times reports, the efforts went on, and Arnold Schwarzenegger became the primary contender for the lead role. Schwarzenegger’s (ultimately successful) run for Governor of California kept the project in limbo until 2011. At that point, “Schwarzenegger again got the itch to play a role that trades not so much on action or comic gimmickry as on character.” The project was back on track.
That is, until it was once again derailed. This time, the problem wasn’t in the production but in Schwarzenegger’s public scandal. As The Daily Beast reports, “amid the revelation that he had an affair and fathered a child with a former member of his household staff over a decade ago, Schwarzenegger would be putting his professional film career—which also included a return to the Terminator franchise—on hold.”
The article goes on to make note of several parallels between the oft-delayed project and Schwarzenegger’s real life. Both Schwarzenegger and the story’s protagonist have a history of glory and rewards (in weightlifting and rodeo, respectively). Both struggle with the aftermath of their past relationships. Both are dealing with an estranged child — Schwarzenegger’s child from his affair and the boy at the center of the story.
The movie will finally make it to the big screen
After years of trying to get the project complete, Cry Macho is finally going to make it to theaters (and streaming on HBO Max). While Schwarzenegger’s life may have had some eerie parallels, this final version will be an Eastwood project from top to bottom. Not only is the Western aficionado going to take on the lead, but he’s also serving as director.
The film represents Eastwood’s first directorial effort that wasn’t based on a true story since 2010’s Hereafter. Cry Macho was filmed in New Mexico and will hit theaters on September 17, 2021.
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